1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine in which a game is conducted by using a plurality of pockets formed in a wheel, such as a roulette game machine or a bingo game machine. In particular, the present invention relates to a gaming machine in which a payout rate can be controlled without changing construction of the wheel by paying out game media betted when a predetermined bonus pocket is specified by a specification device among pockets formed on the wheel, thereby variegated games can be provided.
2. Description of Related Art
In a gaming machine that a game is conducted by predicting a winning number such as a roulette game machine, a bingo game machine or a keno game machine, pockets, to which discriminative numbers (for example, in the roulette game machine numbers of “00”, “0”, “1”˜“36”) are added, are formed on the wheel and a winning number lottery is conducted by specifying any one of the pockets on the wheel by using a roll object such as a ball rolling on the wheel.
It is desirable that such a gaming machine is constructed so that a payout rate is made controllable within a predetermined range according to a country, district and game arcade where the gaming machine is installed. However, in such gaming machine in which a lottery is conducted by using a wheel and a ball mentioned in the above, the lottery is conducted by a physical (structural) device, different from a slot machine or poker game machine in which the lottery is conducted by software control, therefore physical construction to conduct the lottery should be changed, in order to control the payout rate. Here, in particular, explanation will be done by showing the roulette game machine as an example. In the roulette game machine, special pockets corresponding to “0” (single zero) and “00” (double zeros) are provided in addition to pockets corresponding to the discriminative numbers “1”˜“36” as natural numbers, thereby the payout rate is controlled. Further, in Unexamined Japanese Publication No. 2004-97487, said a bingo game machine is disclose that, in addition to plural pockets to specify symbols based on that a lottery ball is dropped in each of the pockets, a passage is provided in which the lottery ball passes and a lottery is conducted whether or not the lottery ball is newly dropped in a bonus pocket. If the lottery ball is dropped in the bonus pocket, an allotment is paid out to the player.
However, as in the conventional gaming machine mentioned in the above, if the wheel having the specific passage or the specific pocket such as “0” or “00” in addition to the normal pockets is used, thereby the payout rate is controlled, there are required plural kinds of wheels according to the number of payout rate desired to change (for example, in a case that wheels can be controlled with three kinds of payout rates, three kinds of wheels are required).
Here, the number of gaming machines using the wheel installed in one game arcade, such as the roulette game machine, the bingo game machine or the keno game machine, is reduced. Since the gaming machines are expensive, the gaming machines are typically not mass-produced. Instead a gaming machine is produced after an order is received from a game arcade. Therefore, each part utilized for the gaming machine basically becomes very expensive and it becomes a large burden for the game arcade to prepare plural kinds of parts in order to control the payout rate. Further, it is hard to partially modify or reconstruct parts.
In the above gaming machine, since it is common in the game to roll the ball on the wheel and determine the winning number, there is fear that players lose interest for the game when such games are repeatedly conducted.
Thus, a gaming machine is desired in which the payout rate can be controlled while using the wheel having the same construction in the conventional gaming machine and variegated games can be provided.
On the other hand, when a special payout or execution of a bonus game is given by forming the specific pockets on the wheel in addition to the normal pockets, there will increase chances to payout many game media in comparison with the gaming machine in which only a base game is conducted, thus a wave in payout will tend to occur. However, the above gaming machine is constructed so that when a considerably number of games is conducted, a game state is converged to an incoming and outcoming state (for example, payout rate is 80%) of game media, which is preset beforehand. Therefore, many game media may be obtained eventhough few game media are consumed, or only a few game media can be obtained eventhough many game media are consumed.
At this point, although gambling tendency is raised and interest for games raised players may lose expectation for games based on that a beneficial result does not occur for a long time, as a result, there will be a tendency that players (customers) do not desire to play such games.